Satellite dishes and other electrical devices are often connected to an earth ground for safety reasons. For example, a set-top box chassis is typically connected to a ground block of a home through a coaxial cable. However, if the home has a problem with its electrical system, such as faulty wiring, then potentially hazardous currents may flow through the chassis and into the coaxial cable. These currents can be damaging to the set-top box and may cause injury to people coming in contact with the set-top box or the coaxial cable.
Ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) are known in the art for detecting an imbalance of current between a hot line and a neutral line of standard home wiring. Faulty currents can be caused by a variety of different problems. A poor connection to earth ground at the neutral tie block of the home's power system may cause the majority of the home's current to exit through the coaxial cable instead of the AC ground line. While GFCIs can detect some ground fault conditions, they are inadequate for detecting other types of fault currents. Other problems may be caused by leakage current or incorrect wiring among A/V equipment, or the ground line being connected to the line potential (i.e., the hot line). These and other problems are not detectable by GFCIs, and hence, GFCIs are inadequate fur utilization of detection of faults during satellite television installations.